MacBook M4 won’t connect to 5GHz SSID on UniFi U7 Pro

Question

Level 1

4 points

MacBook M4 won’t connect to 5GHz SSID on UniFi U7 Pro

Hi everyone,

I’m troubleshooting a strange Wi-Fi issue with my new MacBook (M4, latest macOS) and I’m hoping for insights from anyone with similar UniFi + Apple Silicon experience.

Setup:

Access Point: Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro (Wi-Fi 7)
Originally one SSID with 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz enabled
Later split into separate SSIDs:
- one for 2.4 GHz
- one for 5 GHz
- 6 GHz is disabled completely.

Issue:

My MacBook connects perfectly to the 2.4 GHz SSID, but fails to connect to the 5 GHz SSID.

Symptoms on macOS

Immediate failure or connection without DHCP lease
Self-assigned IP: 169.254.x.x
CLI error when forcing connection:

Failed to join network.
com.apple.wifi.apple80211API.error -3912

Other devices connect to the same 5 GHz SSID without problems

iPhone 12 (latest iOS)
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 connects without issues

What I suspect

macOS Wi-Fi stack (Apple Silicon, M-series)
UniFi WPA3 / PMF behavior
Wi-Fi 7 AP firmware

Temporary observation

Disabling WPA3 / PMF and switching to WPA2-only allows the Mac to connect and acquire a valid IP.

So far, splitting SSIDs and using 2.4 GHz only made the Mac connection more stable.

I’m wondering if anyone has:

Seen similar behavior with UniFi U7 + Apple Silicon
Found stable WPA3/PMF settings for macOS
Workaround without downgrading to WPA2 only

This appears to be a compatibility issue between macOS (Apple Silicon Wi-Fi stack), UniFi WPA3/PMF implementation and Wi-Fi 7 firmware, rather than a signal or configuration problem.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 21, 2025 1:07 PM

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Answer 1

Owl-53

Level 10

102,529 points

Nov 22, 2025 2:19 AM in response to rosigroup

Let us first suggest Not Splitting the Individual bands into separate names

Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support

Make sure that all routers on your network use the same name for every band they support. If you give your 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz bands different names, devices might not connect reliably to your network, to all routers on your network, or to all available bands of your routers. If your router is providing a Wi-Fi 6E network that isn't using the same name for all bands, Apple devices that support Wi-Fi 6E will identify the network as having limited compatibility.

To compare

Using a M4 Mac Mini , a M4 Laptop and a M2 Mac Mini each are capable to use 6E wifi signals

The Fibre Optic Router broadcasts a Single SSID name that is not Hidden

It does broadcast in the 2.4, 5 and 6 Spectrums

Using the 6E capabilities on each of machines using Uni - 7 not the same as yours

There are times when one of the machines will drop down to the 5 gHz spectrum seamlessly and without and issues

As I write this reply these are what I get from the M4 Mac Mini with Tahoe 26.1

I have previously played around with splitting each band in to separate SSIDs and quick abandoned this

I should mention, to do get a full / reliable signal and the full Speed from my ISP that I have paid for ( 1 GB up / Down ) speeds from Router to ISP Test and from Computer through the Router to any speed test sites I regularly test daily

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Answer 2

rosigroup Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 22, 2025 7:32 AM in response to Owl-53

Hi, Owl-53

Thank you for your time and for your helpful response, it actually gave me the idea to test different hardware, which turned out to be very useful.

Just for reference, the other devices in my network (iPhone, iPad, and a Lenovo laptop) connect to the UniFi U7 Pro without any problems, and the connection is stable. The issue seems to affect only my Mac, and it started after the latest macOS update.

I took my old router/access point out of storage (Huawei WS7100, which I used before switching to the UniFi U7 Pro) and set up a simple 5 GHz network. My Mac had never connected to this network before, but it connected instantly and worked perfectly.

I also have a 1 Gbps fiber connection, and the speeds I measured are essentially the maximum that my Ubiquiti USG-PRO-4 can realistically handle:

Download: 551 Mbps

Upload: 92 Mbps

This confirms for me that:

the Mac hardware is fine,
the Wi-Fi chip is working correctly,
and my general network setup is not the root cause.

Since I started to notice the instability around November 14th, I strongly suspect that a recent macOS Tahoe update introduced a new or more severe compatibility issue between macOS and the UniFi U7 Pro firmware.

At this point, I believe this is not simply a configuration issue, but rather an interoperability regression between:

macOS Tahoe
the Apple Silicon Wi-Fi stack
UniFi U7 Pro (Wi-Fi 7)

Summary

After the Tahoe update, since November 14th, when my Wi-Fi was originally configured with all bands enabled (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz), the Wi-Fi connection started to become unstable. The behavior looked like repeated Wi-Fi resets.

The Mac kept trying to switch to the “theoretically better” band (5/6 GHz), failed to successfully connect, and then fell back to the 2.4 GHz band. This loop repeated continuously, resulting in constant reconnecting and unstable connectivity.

I reviewed my Wi-Fi configuration and separated the bands, which helped identify that the issue was related specifically to the 5 GHz band on the UniFi device.

I then tested a 5 GHz network on a Huawei access point, and it worked without any problems.

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

102,529 points

Nov 22, 2025 7:45 AM in response to rosigroup

That was / is a lot of good where you have do 👍

Though not really sure about below

Over a Fibre Optic connection the Download and Upload speed are normally very close in Mbps

I am getting 944.9 Mbps Download and 949.0 Upload

Download: 551 Mbps

Upload: 92 Mbps

This like of points to something else, VPN, AV Software, Two Way Third Party Firewall

Is this possible ?

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